'Holly,' he said, 'we're hardly any nearer to solving our problem, are we? You've done wonders and got nothing to show for it, and the farm raid was only a silly lark, I'm afraid - and an expensive one for me, at that. The real hole has still got to be dug.'
'Well,' said Holly, 'you say it was only a lark, Hazel, but at least it gave us two does: and they're the only two we've got.'
'Are they any good?'
The kind of ideas that have become natural to many male human beings in thinking of females - ideas of protection, fidelity, romantic love and so on - are, of course, unknown to rabbits, although rabbits certainly do form exclusive attachments much more frequently than most people realize. However, they are not romantic and it came naturally to Hazel and Holly to consider the two Nuthanger does simply as breeding stock for the warren. This was what they had risked their lives for.
'Well, it's hard to say, yet,' replied Holly. 'They're doing their best to settle down with us - Clover particularly. She seems very sensible. But they're extraordinarily helpless, you know - I've never seen anything like it - and I'm afraid they may turn out to be delicate in bad weather. They might survive next winter and then again they might not. But you weren't to know that, when you got them out of the farm.'
'With a bit of luck, they might each have a litter before the winter,' said Hazel. 'I know the breeding season's over, but everything's so topsy-turvy with us here that there's no saying.'
'Well, you ask me what I think,' said Holly. 'I'll tell you. I think they're precious little to be the only thing between us and the end of everything we've managed to do so far. I think they may very well not have any kittens for some time, partly because this isn't the season and partly because the life's so strange to them. And when they do, the kittens will very likely have a lot of this man-bred hutch-stock in them. But what else is there to hope for? We must do the best we can with what we've got.'
'Has anyone mated with them yet?' asked Hazel.
'No, neither of them has been ready so far. But I can see some fine old fights breaking out when they are.'
'That's another problem. We can't go on with nothing but these two does.'
'But what else can we do?'
'I know what we've got to do,' said Hazel, 'but I still can't see how. We've got to go back and get some does out of Efrafa.'
'You might as well say you were going to get them out of Inle, Hazel-rah. I'm afraid I can't have given you a very clear description of Efrafa.'
'Oh yes, you have - the whole idea scares me stiff. But we're going to do it.'
'It can't be done.'
'It can't be done by fighting or fair words, no. So it will have to be done by means of a trick.'
'There's no trick will get the better of that lot, believe me. There are far more of them than there are of us: they're very highly organized: and I'm only telling the truth when I say that they can fight, run and follow a trail every bit as well as we can and a lot of them, much better.'
'The trick,' said Hazel, turning to Blackberry, who all this time had been nibbling and listening in silence, 'the trick will have to do three things. First, it will have to get the does out of Efrafa and secondly it will have to put paid to the pursuit. For a pursuit there's bound to be and we can't expect another miracle. But that's not all. Once we're clear of the place, we've got to become impossible to find - beyond the reach of any Wide Patrol.'
'Yes,' said Blackberry doubtfully. 'Yes, I agree. To succeed we should have to manage all those things.'
'Yes. And this trick, Blackberry, is going to be devised by you.'
The sweet, carrion scent of dogwood filled the air; in the evening sunshine the insects hummed around the dense, white cymes hanging low above the grass. A pair of brown and orange beetles, disturbed by the feeding rabbits, took off from a grass-stem and flew away, still coupled together.
'They mate: we don't,' said Hazel, watching them go. 'A trick, Blackberry: a trick to put us right once and for all.'
'I can see how to do the first thing,' said Blackberry. 'At least, I think I can. But it's dangerous. The other two I can't see at all yet and I'd like to talk it over with Fiver.'
'The sooner Fiver and I get back to the warren the better,' said Hazel. 'My leg's good enough now, but all the same I think we'll leave it for tonight. Good old Holly, will you tell them that Fiver and I will come early tomorrow morning? It worries me to think that Bigwig and Silver may start fighting about Clover at any moment.'
'Hazel,' said Holly, 'listen. I don't like this idea of yours at all. I've been in Efrafa and you haven't. You're making a bad mistake and you might very well get us all killed.'
It was Fiver who replied. 'It ought to feel like that, I know,' he said, 'but somehow it doesn't: not to me. I believe we can do it. Anyway, I'm sure Hazel's right when he says it's the only chance we've got. Suppose we go on talking about it for a bit?'
'Not now,' said Hazel. 'Time for underground down here - come on. But if you two race up the hill, you'll probably be in time for some more sunshine at the top. Good night.'
29. Return and Departure
He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart, his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship, to die with us.
Shakespeare Henry V
The following morning all the rabbits were out at silflay by dawn and there was a good deal of excitement as they waited for Hazel. During the previous few days Blackberry had had to repeat several times the story of the journey to the farm and the finding of Hazel in the drain. One or two had suggested that Kehaar must have found Hazel and told Fiver secretly. But Kehaar denied this and, when pressed, replied cryptically that Fiver was one who had travelled a good deal farther than he had himself. As for Hazel, he had acquired, in everyone's eyes, a kind of magical quality. Of all the warren, Dandelion was the last rabbit to fail to do justice to a good story and he made the most of Hazel's heroic dash out of the ditch to save his friends from the farmers. No one had even suggested that Hazel might have been reckless in going to the farm. Against all odds he had got them two does: and now he was bringing their luck back to the warren.
Just before sunrise Pipkin and Speedwell saw Fiver coming through the wet grass near the summit of the down. They ran out to meet him and waited with him until Hazel came up to them. Hazel was limping and had evidently found the climb a strain, but after resting and feeding for a short time he was able to run down to the warren almost as fast as the others. The rabbits crowded round. Everyone wanted to touch him. He was sniffed and tussled with and rolled over in the grass until he felt almost as though he were being attacked. Human beings, on occasions of this kind, are usually full of questions, but the rabbits expressed their delight simply by proving to themselves through their senses that this was really Hazel-rah. It was all he could do to stand up to the rough play.' I wonder what would happen if I lay down under it?' he thought. 'They'd kick me out, I dare say. They wouldn't have a crippled Chief Rabbit. This is a test as well as a welcome, even though they don't know it themselves. I'll test them, the rascals, before I'm done.'
He pushed Buckthorn and Speedwell off his back and broke away to the edge of the wood. Strawberry and Boxwood were on the bank and he joined them and sat washing and combing himself in the sunrise.
'We can do with a few well-behaved fellows like you,' he said to Boxwood. 'Look at that rough lot out there - they nearly finished me off! What on earth do you make of us and how are you settling down?'
'Well, of course we find it strange,' said Boxwood, 'but we're learning. Strawberry here has been helping me a great deal. We were just seeing how many smells I could tell on the wind, but that's something that'll only come slowly. The smells are awfully strong on a farm, you know, and they don't mean much when you live behind wire. As far as I can make out, you all live by smell.'
'Don't take too m
any risks to begin with,' said Hazel. 'Keep near the burrows - don't go out alone - all that sort of thing. And how about you, Strawberry? Are you better?'
'More or less,' answered Strawberry, 'as long as I sleep a lot and sit in the sun, Hazel-rah. I've been terrified half out of my wits - that's the bottom of it. I've had the shivers and the horrors for days. I kept thinking I was back in Efrafa.'
'What was it like in Efrafa?' asked Hazel.
'I'd rather die than go back to Efrafa,' said Strawberry, 'or risk going anywhere near it. I don't know which was worse, the boredom or the fear. All the same,' he added after a few moments,' there are rabbits there who'd be the same as we are if they could only live naturally, like us. Several would be glad to leave the place if they only could.'
Before they went underground Hazel talked to almost all the rabbits. As he expected, they were disappointed over the failure at Efrafa and full of indignation at the ill-treatment of Holly and his companions. More than one thought, like Holly, that the two does were likely to give rise to trouble.
'There should have been more, Hazel,' said Bigwig. 'We shall all be at each other's throats, you know - I don't see how it's to be helped.'
Late in the afternoon Hazel called everyone into the Honeycomb.
'I've been thinking things over,' he said. 'I know you must all have been really disappointed not to have got rid of me at Nuthanger Farm the other day, so I've decided to go a bit further next time.'
'Where?' asked Bluebell.
'To Efrafa,' replied Hazel, 'if I can get anyone to come with me: and we shall bring back as many does as the warren needs.'
There were murmurs of astonishment, and then Speedwell asked, 'How?'
'Blackberry and I have got a plan,' said Hazel, 'but I'm not going to explain it now, for this reason. You all know that this is going to be a dangerous business. If any of you get caught and taken into Efrafa, they'll make you talk all right. But those who don't know a plan can't give it away. I'll explain it later on, at the proper time.'
'Are you going to need many rabbits, Hazel-rah?' asked Dandelion. 'From all I hear, the whole lot of us wouldn't be enough to fight the Efrafans.'
'I hope we shan't have to fight at all,' replied Hazel, 'but there's always the possibility. Anyway, it'll be a long journey home with the does, and if by any chance we meet a Wide Patrol on the way, there have got to be enough of us to deal with them.'
'Would we have to go into Efrafa?' asked Pipkin timidly.
'No,' said Hazel, 'we shall -'
'I never thought, Hazel,' interrupted Holly, 'I never thought that the time would come when I should feel obliged to speak against you. But I can only say again that this is likely to be a complete disaster. I know what you think - you're counting on General Woundwort not having anyone as clever as Blackberry and Fiver. You're quite right - I don't think he has. But the fact remains that no one can get a bunch of does away from that place. You all know that I've spent my life patrolling and tracking in the open. Well, there are rabbits in the Efrafan Owsla who are better at it than I am - I'm admitting it: and they'll hunt you down with your does and kill you. Great Frith! We all have to meet our match some time or other! I know you want only to help us all, but do be sensible and give this scheme up. Believe me, the best thing to do with a place like Efrafa is to stay as far away from it as possible.'
Talk broke out all over the Honeycomb. 'That must be right!' 'Who wants to be torn to pieces?' 'That rabbit with the mutilated ears -' 'Well, but Hazel-rah must know what he's doing.' 'It's too far.' 'I don't want to go.'
Hazel waited patiently for quiet. At last he said, 'It's like this. We can stay here and try to make the best of things as they are: or we can put them right once and for all. Of course there's a risk: anyone knows that who's heard what happened to Holly and the others. But haven't we faced one risk after another, all the way from the warren we left? What do you mean to do? Stay here and scratch each other's eyes out over two does, when there are plenty in Efrafa that you're afraid to go and get, even though they'd be only too glad to come and join us?'
Someone called out, 'What does Fiver think?'
'I'm certainly going,' said Fiver quietly. 'Hazel's perfectly right and there's nothing the matter with his plan. But I promise you this, all of you. If I do come, later on, to feel any kind of misgiving, I shan't keep it to myself.'
'And if that happens, I shan't ignore it,' said Hazel.
There was silence. Then Bigwig spoke.
'You may as well all know that I'm going,' he said, 'and we shall have Kehaar with us, if that appeals to you at all.'
There was a buzz of surprise.
'Of course, there are some of us who ought to stay here,' said Hazel. 'The farm rabbits can't be expected to go: and I'm not asking anyone who went the first time to go back again.'
'I'll come, though,' said Silver. 'I hate General Woundwort and his Council with all my guts and if we're really going to make fools of them I want to be there, as long as I don't have to go back inside the place - that I couldn't face. But after all, you're going to need someone who knows the way.'
'I'll come,' said Pipkin. 'Hazel-rah saved my - I mean, I'm sure he knows what's -' He became confused. 'Anyway, I'll come,' he repeated, in a very nervous voice.
There was a scuffling in the run that led down from the wood and Hazel called, 'Who's that?'
'It's I, Hazel-rah - Blackberry.'
'Blackberry!' said Hazel. 'Why, I thought you'd been here all the time. Where have you been?'
'Sorry not to have come before,' said Blackberry. 'I've been talking to Kehaar, as a matter of fact, about the plan. He's improved it a good deal. If I'm not mistaken, General Woundwort's going to look remarkably silly before we've finished. I thought at first that it couldn't be done, but now I feel sure it can.'
'Come where the grass is greener,' said Bluebell,
'And the lettuces grow in rows,
'And a rabbit of free demeanour
'Is known by his well-scratched nose.'
'I think I shall have to come, just to satisfy my curiosity. I've been opening and shutting my mouth like a baby bird to know about this plan and no one puts anything in. I suppose Bigwig's going to dress up as a hrududu and drive all the does across the field.'
Hazel turned on him sharply. Bluebell sat up on his hind legs and said, 'Please General Woundwort, sir, I'm only a little hrududu and I've left all my petrol on the grass, so if you wouldn't mind eating the grass, sir, while I just give this lady a ride -'
'Bluebell,' said Hazel, 'shut up!'
'I'm sorry, Hazel-rah,' replied Bluebell in surprise. 'I didn't mean any harm. I was only trying to cheer everyone up a bit. After all, most of us feel frightened at the idea of going to this place and you can't blame us, can you? It sounds horribly dangerous.'
'Well, look here,' said Hazel, 'we'll finish this meeting now. Let's wait and see what we decide - that's the rabbits' way. No one has to go to Efrafa who doesn't want to, but it's clear enough that some of us mean to go. Now I'm off to talk to Kehaar myself.'
He found Kehaar just inside the trees, snapping and tearing with his great beak at a foul-smelling piece of flaking, brown flesh, which seemed to be hanging from a tracery of bones. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the odour, which filled the wood around and was already attracting ants and blue-bottles.
'What on earth is that, Kehaar?' he asked. 'It smells appalling!'
'You not know? Heem feesh, feesh, come from Peeg Vater. Ees goot.'
'Come from Big Water? (Ugh!) Did you find it there?'
'Na, na. Men have heem. Down to farm ees plenty peeg rubbish place, all t'ings dere. I go for food, find heem, all smell like Peeg Vater, pick heem up, pring heem back: make me t'ink all about Peeg Vater.' He began to tear again at the half-eaten kipper. Hazel sat choking with nausea and disgust as Kehaar lifted it entire and beat it against a beech-root, so that small fragments flew round them. He collected himself and made an effort.
'Kehaar,'
he said, 'Bigwig says you told him you'd come and help us to get the mothers out of the big warren.'
'Ya, ya, I come for you. Meester Pigvig, 'e need me for 'elp 'im. Ven 'e dere, 'e talk to me, I not rabbit. Ees goot, ya?'
'Yes, rather. It's the only possible way. You're a good friend to us, Kehaar.'
'Ya, ya, 'elp you for get mudders. But now ees dis, Meester 'Azel. Alvays I vant Peeg Vater now - alvays, alvays. Ees hearing Peeg Vater, vant to fly to Peeg Vater. Now soon you go for get mudders, I 'elp you, 'ow you like. Den, ven you getting mudders, I leave you dere, fly avay, no come back. But I come back anudder time, ya? Come in autumn, in vinter I come live 'ere vid you, ya?'
'We shall miss you, Kehaar. But when you come back we'll have a fine warren here, with lots of mothers. You'll be able to feel proud of all you did to help us.'
'Ya, vill be so. But Meester 'Azel, ven you go? I vant 'elp you but I no vant vait for go Peeg Vater. Ees hard now for stay, you know? Dis vat you do, do heem queek, ya?'
Bigwig came up the run, put his head out of the hole and stopped in horror.
'Frith up a tree!' he said. 'What a fearful smell! Did you kill it, Kehaar, or did it die under a stone?'
'You like, Meester Pigvig? I pring you nice liddle pit, ya?'
'Bigwig,' said Hazel, 'can you go and tell all the others that we're setting off at day-break tomorrow? Holly will look after things here until we get back and Buckthorn, Strawberry and the farm rabbits are to stay with him. Anyone else who wants to stay will be perfectly free to do so.'
'Don't worry,' said Bigwig, from the hole. 'I'll send them all up to silflay with Kehaar. They'll go anywhere you like before a duck can dive.'
PART III EFRAFA
30. A New Journey
An undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.
Company Prospectus of the South Sea Bubble
With the exception of Buckthorn and the addition of Bluebell, the rabbits who set off from the southern end of the beech hanger early the next morning were those who had left Sandleford with Hazel five weeks before. Hazel had said nothing more to persuade them, feeling that it would be better simply to leave things to set in his favour. He knew that they were afraid, for he was afraid himself. Indeed, he guessed that they, like himself, could not be free from the thought of Efrafa and its grim Owsla. But working against this fear was their longing and need to find more does and the knowledge that there were plenty of does in Efrafa. Then there was their sense of mischief. All rabbits love to trespass and steal and when it comes to the point very few will admit that they are afraid to do so; unless (like Buckthorn or Strawberry on this occasion) they know that they are not fit and that their bodies may let them down in the pinch. Again, in speaking about his secret plan, Hazel had aroused their curiosity. He had hoped that, with Fiver behind him, he could lure them with hints and promises: and he had been right. The rabbits trusted him and Fiver, who had got them out of Sandleford before it was too late, crossed the Enborne and the common, taken Bigwig out of the wire, founded the warren on the downs, made an ally of Kehaar and produced two does against all odds. There was no telling what they would do next. But they were evidently up to something; and since Bigwig and Blackberry seemed to be confidently in on it, no one was ready to say that he would rather stay out; especially since Hazel had made it clear that anyone who wished could remain at home and welcome - implying that if he was so poor-spirited as to choose to miss the exploit, they could do without him. Holly, in whom loyalty was second nature, had said no more to queer the pitch. He accompanied them as far as the end of the wood with all the cheerfulness he could muster; only begging Hazel, out of hearing of the rest, not to under-rate the danger. 'Send news by Kehaar when he reaches you,' he said, 'and come back soon.'